Improvement in ruffling or plaiting attachments for sewing-machines



A. RUSH.

Rufiling or Plaiting Attachments for Sewing-Machines- No. 143,424.'Patented0ct.7,1873..

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ARTEMAS RUSH, OF OHARITON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO JOHNSTONRUFFLER COMPANY, OF OTTUMWA, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN RUFFLING 0R PLAITING ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent BIO-1413,42 1, datedOctober 7, 1873; application filed May 27,1873.

To all whom-it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTEMAS RUSH, of Ohariton, Lucas county, Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Ruffling or PlaitingAttachments for SewingMa- I chines, of which the following is aspecificato engage a rack on the sliding frame of the plaiting-blade,and to propel said frame alternately in opposite directions, andactuated through the medium of a vibratory lever pivoted to the frame ofthe attachment, and deriving its movement from the needle bar or arm ofthe sewing-machine, or some part moving in unison therewith.

.The nature of my invention, and the manner in which the same is or maybe carried into effect, will be readily imderstood by reference to theaccompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of myimproved attachment from the front. Fig. 2 is a like view of the samefrom the rear. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section, on an enlargedscale, of the cylindrical supporting-hub of the driving-pawl and thebearing encircled by the same, together with a portion of the vibratorylever by which motion is imparted to the said pawl.

A represents the main arm of the attachment, which supports all theworking parts. The said frame maybe adapted, as customary in attachmentsof this kind, to be attached either to the cloth-plate of thesewing-machine or to the presser-bar. The latter arrangement is shown inthe drawing, a presser-foot, B, being attached to and made part of theframe, and being formedto fit onto the end of the presser-bar of thesewing-machine in lieu of the ordinary presser-foot, which requires tobe removed, of course, before the attachment can be fitted to themachine. Upon the frame A is held, in suitable ways in which it canslide, a plate or bar, O, provided with an upright fin or rib, D,notched or formed into a rack, a, on its upper edge. The bar 0 alsocarries the ruffler or plaiter proper, consisting in this instance oftwo spring nippers or blades, 1) b, fastened to two strips, 0 c, unitedwith and extending horizontally toward the front of the attachment atright angles with the bar 0. The plaiter-blades are arranged to workhorizontally in line with the presser B, moving under said foot in theirforward movement in the usual manner. The material to be plaited passesbetween the two blades. To the frame of the attachment is pivoted, at d,an angle or elbow lever, E, one arm of which (the longer arm) is formedwith a loop to connect with a screw on the needle-bar of thesewing-machine, and the other arm carries a semi-cylindrical bearing, e,having a cross-section such as shown in Fig. 3, with a wedge-likeprojection, f, on its under side, below the center 9. Upon the part cismounted the double driving-pawl, consisting of atubular hub, h, mountedloosely and so as to turn on the bearing 0, and the two bent arms orcatches i z" extending over the rack to, in such position that, when athe hub is partially rotated on itsbearing, one or the other of saidarms, according to the direction in which the hub is rotated, will betilted far enough to cause its end to engage the rack.

The device for holding the arm down to its work consists of a pin, j,with a head, 70, beveled on both sides to a point, which is located in atubular socket, Z, formed on the under side of the hub, and has its headpressed up against the under side of the bearing 0, the

apex of the head resting on said bearing on one side or the other of thewedge projection f, accordin g to the direction in which the hub istilted. The pin is upheld by a yielding pressure induced by a spring, m,encircling the same, and held between the head It andbottom of thesocket Z.

If, when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 3, it is desired totilt the hub in the opposite direction, this can be done by pressingdown on the arm,i or i, that may happen to be uppermost. The pin j, byreason of its beveled head traveling over the slanting face on one sideof the wedge f, will thus be forced outwardly; but, the moment it haspassed the apex of the wedge, the spring, by expanding, will cause thehead to travel down the opposite face of the wedge, and thus take aposition exactly the opposite of that shown in Fig. 3, and at this timethe arm, 6 or i, which before was uppermost will be tilted to engage therack, while the other arm, before in engagement with the rack, will benow disengaged therefiom. The spring tends to hold down on the rackwhichever arm may be lowermost, while at the same time it will allow thearm to slightly yield to ride over the rackteeth during the backwardvibration of the pawl. The movement of the pawl to drive the sliding bar0 is derived from the lever E, as above said.

, Supposing the parts to be in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, witharm '6 of the double pawl engaging the rack, then, as the longer arm ofthe lever E descends, its shorter arm will tend to carry back the pawl,and arm 6 will consequently push back the sliding bar a certaindistance. The upward movement of the long arm of lever will cause thearm 11 to move in an opposite direction, in which case its end will rideover the teeth of the rack; and, upon commencement of the downwardmovement of the lever, the arm will again engage and push back the bar.This operation will continue until the end of the rack is reached, oruntil the double pawl is reversed, so as to elevate arm 6 and depressarm 2" into engagement with the rack. In this case the movement of thesliding bar will be forward, or in a direction the reverse of that inwhich it was moved by the arm i, and the sliding bar will be actuatedwhen the longer arm of the lever E rises instead of when it descends. Toautomatically reverse the pawl at the time desired, I employ two stops,it n,

placed on the front side of rack-bar D in the path of the tubular socketZ. During the movements of the bar, these stops are alternately broughtin contact with the socketpiece, and are pressed against it, so as totilt the pawl over and reverse it. Thus, in the device shown in Fig. 2,the rack-bar will recede or move toward the left until the stop a isbrought against the socket-piece I. When this takes place the pawl willbe tilted, and its arm 42 will become engaged with the rack, whichconsequently will move in the opposite direction, or toward the right.By making these stops adjustable a greater or less range of movement canbe allowed to the plaiterbar, and consequently a greater or less widthof plait can be obtained.

As it is necessary that the plaiter-blade should always move forward tothe same point,

the stop it, which determines the extent of forward movement of theblade, is fixed and stationary; but the stop a, by which the distance towhich the blade moves rearwardly is regulated, is made adjustable, asshown in the drawing, being held by a set-screw, 11, passing, through aslot in the rack-bar, into the stop piece. By this arrangement the stopa can be set nearer to or farther from stop n, according to the size ofplait desired. It is manifest, however, that, in lieu of these devicesfor antomatically, and at the desired time, reversing the double pawl,other reversing mechanism can readily be employed.

The operation of this attachment has been sufficiently indicated in theforegoing specification,'and will be readily understood by those skilledin the art to which this invention pertains.

The attachment shown is adapted for a Singer machine. It will, ofcourse, be understood, however, that it can be adapted, like otherattachments, for use with any of the sewing-machines in the marketwithout departure from my invention.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the sliding plaiterbar rack, of a reversiblevibratory double pawl, carried by a lever or arm receiving movement fromthe needle bar or arm of the sewing-ma chine, and reversed at the propertimes by means of stops on the plaiter-bar, to cause the bar to travelalternately in opposite directions, substantially as shown anddescribed.

2. In combination with the reversible vibratory double pawl and slidingplaiter-bar and rack thereon, the two stop-pieces on the said bar, theone fixed and the other adjustable, for the purposes stated, arranged inthe path of said pawl to reverse the same at the proper times,substantially as shown and set forth.

3. The combination, with the vibratory lever and the partly-cylindricalbearing carried by the same, of the double pawl, composed of acylindrical hub encircling said bearing, and provided with a socket-piece containing a bevel-headed pin pressed up against the imder sideof the said bearing, to operate in connection with a wedge-shapedprojection thereon, as described, and two arms or catches, each of whichis adapted to engage, when the pawl is tilted to allow it, a rack 011the sliding plaiter-bar, substantially as herein shown and set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

ARTEMAS RUSH. Witnesses A. G. HARROW, B. R. HAMILTON.

